DePaul University Research Services > Award Management > Modifications > No Cost Extension

No Cost Extension

​Within the last four months of a grant period, the Principal Investigator (PI) must consider whether additional time will be necessary to accomplish all activities in his/her program.

If additional time is needed and sufficient funds remain, the PI may request a no-cost extension from the sponsoring agency.

In general, no-cost extensions must be requested from a sponsor through the Office of Research Services (ORS) and an approval or denial received in writing before ORS incorporates the extension into the grant information within BlueSky.

To Request a No-Cost Extension

  1. The PI prepares the No-Cost Extension request​ indicating:
    • The project number
    • The sponsoring agency
    • The current end date
    • The requested revised end date
    • Reasons for extending the project: Note that additional time to merely exhaust remaining funds is not considered a valid reason for an extension.
  2. The Award Management Staff determines whether a no-cost extension request can be submitted. Reasons why it may not include:
    • Grant is a sub-agreement with another agency whose own grant is coming to an end.
    • Sponsor does not require extension requests (see below).
    • The request is too late (normally less than 10 days before a grant's end date).
    • Sponsor has specifically indicated that extensions are not allowed.
  3. If the request is allowed, the Award Management Staff will help draft an extension request and show to the PI for approval before sending it to the sponsoring agency (unless the sponsoring agency requires that the extension request comes directly from the PI himself/herself).
  4. When a determination is given to ORS from the sponsoring agency, the PI will be informed of the decision and ORS will adjust the grant information within DePaul's financial system accordingly.

Expanded Authorities

Certain federal sponsors of DePaul University grants have adopted a streamlined set of procedures to minimize administrative backlogs in sponsor/grantee transactions. These procedures are the "Expanded Authorities". One aspect of them is that grantees are authorized to unilaterally extend the grant one time for a period up to twelve months from the original expiration date. In these cases, the Principal Investigator need only inform the sponsoring agency no less than 10 days before the original expiration date of the new end date and a revised reporting schedule if applicable. This notification should be submitted in consultation with ORS.

Please check with the ORS Award Management Staff to confirm whether the Expanded Authorities apply to your grant. ​